In about an hour I’ll be getting ready to get over to the Champs Elysées cineplex where the Cannes Festival’s Thierry Frémaux and Gilles Jacob will be holding their press conference. Just a few last minute thoughts about the would-be selection; it appears that the French will make a strong showing this year (Screen Comment is based in Paris, can’t hardly start an article without mentioning this country’s eminent cinema first) with films like “Bird People” by Pascale Ferran, “La Chambre bleue” (“the Blue Room”) starring and directed by Mathieu Amalric, “Clouds of Sils Maria” by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart, among others and “3 cœurs” (“3 hearts”) by Benoit Jacquot starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Charlotte Gainsbourg, to mention a few.

The names of Guédiguian, Téchiné and Carax are also being trotted about, as are those of Mia Hansen-Love and Bertrand Bonello, these last two less likely to have their films completed on time, however.

One of the great things about Cannes is its American-centric approach. There should be plenty of great homegrown cinema to go around this year, therefore, with Clint Eastwood likely bringing his musical comedy “Jersey Boys,” Woody Allen “Magic in the Moonlight” which he filmed in the south of France (not far from where the festival will take place) and which stars Emma Stone et Colin Firth, David Cronenberg “Maps to the Stars” starring Robert Pattinson and Julianne Moore, and “Inherent Vice” by Paul Thomas Anderson starring Jena Malone, Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin (it was adapted from a Thomas Pynchon novel). But again, it’s a crap shoot at this point.

If it’s ready in time “Welcome to New York” by Abel Ferrara starring Gérard Depardieu in the role of Dominique Strauss-Khan will be presented this year on the Croisette, too. “Sin City 2” by Robert Rodriguez and “The Smell of Us” by Larry Clark, which was shot in Paris, will also be shown, all of which can make for some great midnight moviegoing.

Gentlemen, start your engines …

Watch this space for the full selection later this morning and lock #SCannes2014 on Twitter during the Cannes Festival.